_Rom. 7:4_—“_ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God_”—here union with Christ is illustrated by the indissoluble bond that connects husband and wife, and makes them legally and organically one; _2 Cor. 11:2_—“_I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ_”; _Eph. 5:31, 32_—“_For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church_”—Meyer refers _verse 31_ wholly to Christ, and says that Christ leaves father and mother (the right hand of God) and is joined to the church as his wife, the two constituting thenceforth one moral person. He makes the union future, however,—“_For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother_”—the consummation is at Christ’s second coming. But the Fathers, as Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Jerome, referred it more properly to the incarnation. _Rev. 19:7_—“_the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready_”; _22:17_—“_And the Spirit and the bride say, Come_”; _cf._ _Is. 54:5_—“_For thy Maker is thine husband_”; _Jer. 3:20_—“_Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah_”; _Hos. 2:2‐5_—“_for their mother hath played the harlot_”—departure from God is adultery; the _Song of Solomon_, as Jewish interpreters have always maintained, is an allegorical poem describing, under the figure of marriage, the union between Jehovah and his people: Paul only adopts the Old Testament figure, and applies it more precisely to the union of God with the church in Jesus Christ. (_c_) From the union between the vine and its branches.